Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
…………………………………………………
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Movie Review
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 musical film directed by and starring John Cameron Mitchell. It is a solid, but very limited in appeal film.
………………………………………………….
“I had tried singing once back in Berlin.
They threw tomatoes.
After the show, I had a nice salad“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
It follows Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German singer of a fictional rock band. Hedwig develops a relationship with a younger man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal their music and move on without them.
I liked the plot to a degree as this movie’s story is the most unimportant aspect to it. Let’s say that some segments here are genius, and oh so authentic and intriguing, but as a whole, the film’s simply not about anything particularly deep or meaningful. It’s just a bunch of ideas thrown into the mix with no true substance in the end.
Hedwig herself/himself is such an intriguing, very interesting personality. I liked the movie’s emphasis on East Germany and its gay and rock scene. This protagonist is also a lot of fun and of course instantly memorable in both looks and humor.
I truly respect John Cameron Mitchell for not only giving a very strong central performance, and very emotive too, but also for stepping so boldly into the directorial chair in what was a truly spectacular indie direction. It’s a shame that all the other characters, including Tommy, are underutilized and nowhere near as interesting.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a movie that you either hate or love owing to its very obviously polarizing approach and execution. It was a box office bomb expectedly, but it received rave reviews, again expectedly so. But I am again in the middle as I find it just solid and not great or bad in any way.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
The movie is too esoteric to be enjoyed more, too slight in plot and characterization plus I really don’t care about rock music, and this one was too indie and odd to appeal to me personally. But still, some musical sequences are downright inspiring in visuals and production design, some artistic scenes are pretentious, but some are so admirable and fascinating, and the humor and the juxtaposition of memorable imagery and good dialogue worked out so well.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a polarizing experience. On the one hand, its rock music did not appeal to me at all personally, and the entire storyline is slight and it serves as the background to everything else here. It’s an esoteric movie for better and for worse. But on the other hand, the imagery is admittedly intriguing, the central protagonist is so interesting and the movie’s memorably artistic at times. John Cameron Mitchell delivered both in the acting and in the directorial chair.
